Ahouse is a single-unit residentialbuilding. It may range in complexity from a rudimentaryhut to a complex structure ofwood,masonry,concrete or other material, outfitted withplumbing, electrical, andheating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems.[1][2] Houses use a range of differentroofing systems to keep precipitation such as rain from getting into the dwelling space. Houses generally havedoors orlocks to secure the dwelling space and protect its inhabitants and contents fromburglars or other trespassers. Most conventional modern houses in Western cultures will contain one or morebedrooms andbathrooms, akitchen or cooking area, and aliving room. A house may have a separatedining room, or the eating area may be integrated into thekitchen or another room. Some large houses inNorth America have arecreation room. In traditional agriculture-oriented societies,domestic animals such as chickens or larger livestock (like cattle) may share part of the house with humans.
The social unit that lives in a house is known as ahousehold. Most commonly, a household is afamily unit of some kind, although households may also have othersocial groups, such asroommates or, in arooming house, unconnected individuals, that typically use a house as theirhome. Some houses only have a dwelling space for one family or similar-sized group; larger houses calledtownhouses orrow houses may contain numerous family dwellings in the same structure. A house may be accompanied by outbuildings, such as agarage for vehicles or ashed for gardening equipment and tools. A house may have abackyard, afront yard or both, which serve as additional areas where inhabitants can relax, eat, or exercise.
The English wordhouse derives directly from the Old English wordhus, meaning "dwelling, shelter, home, house," which in turn derives fromProto-Germanichusan (reconstructed by etymological analysis) which is of unknown origin.[3] The term house itself gave rise to the letter 'B' through an earlyProto-Semitichieroglyphic symbol depicting a house. The symbol was called"bayt", "bet" or "beth" in various related languages, and becamebeta, the Greek letter, before it was used by the Romans.[4]Beit in Arabic means house, while in Maltesebejt refers to the roof of the house.[5][6]
Elements
Layout
Example of an earlyVictorian "Gingerbread House" inConnecticut, United States, built in 1855
Ideally,architects of houses designrooms to meet the needs of the people who will live in the house.Feng shui, originally aChinese method of moving houses according to such factors as rain and micro-climates, has recently expanded its scope to address the design of interior spaces, with a view to promoting harmonious effects on the people living inside the house, although no actual effect has ever been demonstrated. Feng shui can also mean the "aura" in or around a dwelling, making it comparable to thereal estate sales concept of "indoor-outdoor flow".
Thesquare footage of a house in the United States reports the area of "living space", excluding the garage and other non-living spaces. The "square metres" figure of a house in Europe reports the area of the walls enclosing the home, and thus includes any attached garage and non-living spaces.[7] The number of floors or levels making up the house can affect the square footage of a home.
Many houses have several large rooms with specialized functions and several very small rooms for other various reasons. These may include a living/eating area, a sleeping area, and (if suitable facilities and services exist) separate or combined washing andlavatory areas. Some larger properties may also feature rooms such as a spa room, indoor pool, indoor basketball court, and other 'non-essential' facilities. In traditional agriculture-oriented societies, domestic animals such as chickens or larger livestock often share part of the house with humans. Most conventional modern houses will at least contain a bedroom, bathroom, kitchen or cooking area, and a living room.The names of parts of a house often echo the names of parts of other buildings, but could typically include:
Little is known about the earliest origin of the house and its interior; however, it can be traced back to the simplest form of shelters. An exceptionally well-preserved house dating to the fifth millennium BC and with its contents still preserved was for example excavated atTell Madhur inIraq.[8]Roman architectVitruvius' theories have claimed the first form ofarchitecture as a frame of timber branches finished in mud, also known as theprimitive hut.[9]
Middle Ages
In theMiddle Ages, theManor Houses facilitated different activities and events. Furthermore, the houses accommodated numerous people, including family, relatives, employees, servants and their guests.[9] Their lifestyles were largely communal, as areas such as theGreat Hall enforced the custom of dining and meetings and theSolar intended for shared sleeping beds.[10]
During the 15th and 16th centuries, theItalian Renaissance Palazzo consisted of plentiful rooms of connectivity. Unlike the qualities and uses of the Manor Houses, most rooms of thepalazzo contained no purpose, yet were given several doors. These doors adjoined rooms in whichRobin Evans describes as a "matrix of discrete but thoroughly interconnected chambers."[11] The layout allowed occupants to freely walk room to room from one door to another, thus breaking the boundaries ofprivacy.
"Once inside it is necessary to pass from one room to the next, then to the next to traverse the building. Where passages and staircases are used, as inevitably they are, they nearly always connect just one space to another and never serve as general distributors of movement. Thus, despite the precise architectural containment offered by the addition of room upon room, the villa was, in terms of occupation, an open plan, relatively permeable to the numerous members of the household."[11] Although very public, the openplan encouraged sociality and connectivity for all inhabitants.[9]
An early example of the segregation of rooms and consequent enhancement of privacy may be found in 1597 at theBeaufort House built inChelsea, London. It was designed by English architectJohn Thorpe who wrote on his plans, "A Long Entry through all".[12] The separation of the passageway from the room developed the function of thecorridor. This new extension was revolutionary at the time, allowing the integration of one door per room, in which all universally connected to the same corridor.English architectSir Roger Pratt states "the common way in the middle through the whole length of the house, [avoids] the offices from one molesting the other by continual passing through them."[13]Social hierarchies within the 17th century were highly regarded, as architecture was able to epitomize the servants and the upper class. More privacy is offered to theoccupant as Pratt further claims, "the ordinary servants may never publicly appear in passing to and fro for their occasions there."[13] This social divide between rich and poor favored the physical integration of the corridor into housing by the 19th century.
SociologistWitold Rybczynski wrote, "the subdivision of the house into day and night uses, and into formal and informal areas, had begun."[14] Rooms were changed from public to private as single entryways forced notions of entering a room with a specific purpose.[9]
Industrial Revolution
Compared to the large scaled houses in England and the Renaissance, the17th Century Dutch house was smaller, and was only inhabited by up to four to five members.[9] This was because they embraced "self-reliance"[9] in contrast to the dependence on servants, and a design for a lifestyle centered on the family. It was important for the Dutch to separate work from domesticity, as the home became an escape and a place ofcomfort.[citation needed]
By the end of the 17th century, the house layout was transformed to become employment-free, enforcing these ideas for the future. This came in favour for theIndustrial Revolution, gaining large-scale factory production and workers.[9]
A stereoscopic image of 988 High Street, Worsham house, circa 1880s
In the American context, some professions, such as doctors, in the 19th and early 20th century typically operated out of the front room or parlor or had a two-room office on their property, which was detached from the house. By the mid 20th century, the increase in high-tech equipment created a marked shift whereby the contemporary doctor typically worked from anoffice orhospital.[15][16]
Technology and electronic systems has caused privacy issues and issues with segregating personal life fromremote work. Technological advances ofsurveillance andcommunications allow insight of personal habits and private lives.[9] As a result, the "private becomes ever more public, [and] the desire for a protective home life increases, fuelled by the very media that undermine it," writesJonathan Hill.[9] Work has been altered by the increase of communications. The "deluge of information"[9] has expressed the efforts of work conveniently gaining access inside the house. Although commuting is reduced, the desire to separate working and living remains apparent.[9] On the other hand, some architects have designed homes in which eating, working and living are brought together.
In many parts of the world, houses are constructed using scavenged materials. InManila'sPayatas neighborhood, slum houses are often made of material sourced from a nearby garbage dump.[17] InDakar, it is common to see houses made of recycled materials standing atop a mixture of garbage and sand which serves as a foundation. The garbage-sand mixture is also used to protect the house from flooding.[18]
Some houses are constructed from bricks and wood and are later covered by insulating panels. The roof construction is also seen.Twobaracche(slum in Italian) nearOltre il Colle, Italy. These homes are often illegally built and without electricity, proper sanitation and taps for drinking water.
In the United States, modern house construction techniques includelight-frame construction (in areas with access to supplies of wood) andadobe or sometimesrammed-earth construction (in arid regions with scarce wood-resources). Some areas use brick almost exclusively, and quarried stone has long provided foundations and walls. To some extent, aluminum and steel have displaced some traditionalbuilding materials. Increasingly popular alternative construction materials includeinsulating concrete forms (foam forms filled with concrete), structural insulated panels (foam panels faced withoriented strand board or fiber cement),light-gauge steel, andsteel framing. More generally, people often build houses out of the nearest available material, and often tradition or culture govern construction-materials, so whole towns, areas, counties or even states/countries may be built out of one main type of material. For example, a large portion of American houses use wood, while most British and many European houses use stone, brick, or mud.
In the early 20th century, some house designers started usingprefabrication.Sears, Roebuck & Co. first marketed theirSears Catalog Homes to the general public in 1908. Prefab techniques became popular afterWorld War II. First small inside rooms framing, then later, whole walls were prefabricated and carried to theconstruction site. The original impetus was to use thelabor force inside a shelter during inclement weather. More recently, builders have begun to collaborate withstructural engineers who usefinite element analysis to design prefabricated steel-framed homes with known resistance to highwind loads andseismic forces. These newer products provide labor savings, more consistent quality, and possibly accelerated construction processes.
Lesser-used construction methods have gained (or regained) popularity in recent years. Though not in wide use, these methods frequently appeal to homeowners who may become actively involved in the construction process. They include:
Houses may be repeatedly expanded leading to a complex construction history.
Buildings with historical importance have legal restrictions. New houses in the UK are not covered by theSale of Goods Act. When purchasing a new house, the buyer has different legal protection than when buying other products. New houses in the UK are covered by aNational House Building Council guarantee.
Identification and symbolism
With the growth of dense settlement, humans designed ways of identifying houses andparcels of land. Individual houses sometimes acquireproper names, and those names may acquire in their turn considerable emotional connotations. A more systematic and general approach to identifying houses may use various methods ofhouse numbering.
Houses may express the circumstances or opinions of their builders or their inhabitants. Thus, a vast and elaborate house may serve as a sign of conspicuous wealth whereas a low-profile house built of recycled materials may indicate support of energy conservation. Houses of particular historical significance (former residences of the famous, for example, or even just very old houses) may gain a protected status intown planning as examples of builtheritage or of streetscape.Commemorative plaques may mark such structures.Home ownership provides a common measure ofprosperity ineconomics. Contrast the importance of house-destruction, tent dwelling and house rebuilding in the wake of manynatural disasters.
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